


i set fire to this track

by reonjeons



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, Prince Lee Jeno, Witch Huang Ren Jun, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-24 22:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21825547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reonjeons/pseuds/reonjeons
Summary: Jeno was good. He was a prince and people of their kingdom expected him to be good. And good he was. He was best in doing his duties, and people already saw how great of a king he would be once the right time comes.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno
Comments: 7
Kudos: 123
Collections: DreamXmas 2019





	i set fire to this track

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jeanheir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeanheir/gifts).



> for mira.
> 
> i hope you like it <3

When Jeno was young, he always got what he wanted. His parents were always soft, delicate to his wishes, so they granted them as much as they could. And much, they were. From his favorite toys and entertainment, his hobbies, his favorite food and clothes, he had it all. And they gave him love as much as they gave him material things. His parents let him do what he wanted; singing and dancing lessons, learning literature and sports, wandering around the palace any time. 

But Jeno wasn’t a child who grew bratty and demanding despite what the old country folks had thought he would grow up to be. Jeno was just as gentle as his mother, as brave as his father, heart as pure as theirs. He was nothing but kind and considerate. As much as he did things for his own enjoyment, he served his people as much as he could help since he was very young. Because that’s what he wanted to do, and the King and Queen let their son do anything he wants around the palace.

Prince Jeno is obedient. He always put the King and Queen’s thoughts into consideration. Whenever his mother studies literature with him, he always takes note to the lessons she taught him, always bearing them in mind, and he always applies each lesson. She taught him life, how to live as a royalty, and how the world outside their kingdom can be cruel. The King taught Jeno sports and hunting, and how to use his bow and arrows. He taught Jeno how to ride a horse, and he taught him the laws and order of their kingdom and how these should be maintained even when his time comes to stand before the throne. 

Jeno was good. He was a prince and people of their kingdom expected him to be good. And good he was. He was best in doing his duties, and people already saw how great of a king he would be once the right time comes. 

“You will make a great king, My Prince,” Doyoung, one of his trusted educators, had said while the prince was helping him pack up the scrolls and quills the teacher had brought for their lessons that day, “Very kind-hearted, but never falters to be wise.”

He had smiled brightly at him that lovely afternoon, then delivered the scenario to the Queen during their afternoon tea with chest blossoming in pride. 

Jeno had never doubted his abilities. Never doubted his knowledge of things, not when he knew that the King and Queen themselves taught him everything he held onto. But not anymore, he thinks. Because now, Jeno doubts himself. Jeno doubts everything; what his mother told him of achieving his own dreams, doing what he thinks is best, what Doyoung said about being true to himself. It all haunts him alive as of the moment. 

Jeno always had everything he wanted, everything he loved. Jeno always did what his heart desired, but maybe not this time. Jeno was good, kind, and obedient, but maybe not this time. 

A rebel was not good. Rebellion was not kind, and he was not fit to be king when he just ran away from his duty. But Jeno, twenty years young Crowned Prince, heir to the throne, the King and Queen’s precious treasure, refused to be married right away. Especially to someone he could not even name. 

He knew marriage was not always about love, his mother had taught him that. Many stories from the kingdom’s advisors themselves have told him that as well. Marriage was an eternal bond, and love goes beyond that. The Queen had told him how he was so, so, lucky to be a product of something as real as love. 

Since then, he knew that his parents loved each other. And he wanted that. He wanted a marriage bonded by love, not by tradition and rituals.

So when seated in their long lunch table, the moment that the news broke inside the palace of the Prince meeting his bride, Jeno had dropped his silver utensils on the porcelain plate and did not wait for the tea to be served as he fled.

He only meant to hang around the courtyards until lunch was finished, but the guards were quick to spot him, quick to demand his presence at the Main Hall to meet his future other half. Even though it was hard to resist Youngho’s pleading eyes, Jeno demanded to be alone. His knights left him alone. And he did feel alone.

The news was a surprise to the whole kingdom as much as it had been to Prince Jeno. The Prince marrying someone from one of the neighboring kingdoms in as early as two weeks became the talk of the town the moment it came. Women began to gossip about who the nameless bride could be, why such marriage was suddenly into the picture since the King and Queen seemed unlikely to chain their son into an arranged marriage. And why was the marriage so suddenly arranged, so quickly it did not even reach the prince’s ears before it got planned.

Jeno remembers why he needed to be married, just not remembers the supposed bride’s name. He thinks it was not relevant.

That night, his teachers went into his chambers to persuade him in meeting his parents. But Jeno remained stoic and persistent. He did not want to get married right away. So he does what his mind tells him to do and packs a rucksack, and planned a route to sneak into the night.

He wore his boots and wore his cloak. The rucksack tightly worn across his chest. After a little bit of contemplating, the prince decided to bring along his bow and arrows. As a weapon of defense. Or maybe for hunting if his unknown journey stretches for long. Which he did not wish, by the way. He just wanted to get away, maybe for a few weeks, until the King and Queen change their minds and call off the marriage. 

The windows of his bedroom is now wide open with the curtains cast aside. His chambers were high up in the palace just as he requested when he was granted with it. It was only now that Jeno regretted having his bedroom high up. The view was beautiful, breath taking even, but now he just dreaded the height.

Jeno’s eyes wander across the starry skies, then to the vast kingdom that they rule. Dead into the night, the villages were quiet. Light still flickered, but only some, almost not there. He scans the borders of the palace, the knights on night patrol. Jeno squints, finding an easier route to avoid them. It will be quite tricky, maybe he should wait for a few more hours so that the royal guards would be too tired to continue patrolling. Or maybe he could pass through the back gates where Jisung passes when the boy pushed carts of vegetables and livestock to the kitchen. 

Oh god, he should have told Jisung that he was leaving—escaping. Or even Chenle. Jeno is for sure going to miss talking to them. Despite the duo being clumsy and rowdy, Jeno always loved their company. Especially during the days Prince Jaemin of the South could not come and visit him.

The prince shakes his head clear of thoughts before hooking a leg across his window sill, and further into the night.

* * *

Jeno loved adventure. He could recall his younger days when his father allowed him to go to the woods to play, with the company of Youngho and other guards of course. He would catch butterflies and watch the ducks swim in the creek. Oftentimes he would build forts and small houses out of palm tree leaves and stray branches, which Youngho would often destroy because the young prince would insist that he stays inside with him.

His mother warned him a lot about the woods. He was told that it was dangerous there and too much dirt would make him sick. Jeno recalls shrugging off his mother’s nagging, and only believed when one day he got the worst flu of his life after staying out for too long. The Queen had also warned him about the lingering animals in the woods. But Jeno was never afraid.

But of course, Jeno realizes, the woods were scary during the dead of the night. There’s a cacophony of insects and frogs and the rustle of bushes around him, and suddenly his cloak felt inadequate against the piercing cold. It was only then that he realized the weather was changing. He should have gotten a thicker cloak or wore thicker clothes. Jeno kept his hands tight around the ropes of his rucksack.

Thankfully, the prince knew to navigate around the dark forest. Just straight ahead from the trail he walked on was a clearing, which would take most likely more minutes of walking before getting there. Then after the clearing, another trail would lead up to the temples. If Jeno would reach there before the sunrise, he could rest for a while. Then continue trudging south, to the edge of their kingdom. Jeno believes, as he could recall in their maps, that there was a small village where their reign ends. He could spend days there before travelling for more, further away from their kingdom.   
The only thing he could do was maintain a low profile as to not be caught as the Prince.

Jeno had been to travels before. Maybe travels shorter than this and travels with actual guards and stocks of food, but Jeno had enough knowledge to survive. Youngho had taught him a lot of things. Doyoung too, and his books. Though it was completely different from travelling alone with nothing but his rucksack of goods and his bow and arrows, Jeno held onto his courage. He was brave, he needed to be brave.

But brave didn’t mean he wasn’t the least worried about a few things. For one, he was alone. The forest is dark and he was very open to attacks, both human and animal attacks. He knew self-defense, of course, it was an elective when he was schooling. But somehow, being free of royal guards depleted a fair amount of his confidence.

Two, he was worried as to how long his supplies would last. His rucksack had been filled with nothing but fruits stacked in his desk back at his chambers, and a lone bottle of drinking water. He would need more to sustain, he would need more to continue travelling. Jeno had figured that he would need to go hunt and fish, and he knew how. Just that it would be more challenging without Jaehyun’s encouragements and guide, or his father’s tips and weapons.

Three, he would need to find herbs for injuries. Just trudging alone in the dark had earned him small cuts and bruises in his hands and wrists from the constant shielding himself from the harsh branches. Much more to when real potential threats faces him right?

So really, there was a fair amount of things to be worried about. And maybe those made the prince a little less brave. But he convinces himself to be bigger than any of those. Because regretting now would do him no good, especially when he was nowhere close to his chambers, or to the palace itself. Jeno wraps his cloak around himself tighter, pulled the hood further. Despite the exhaustion catching up on him, Jeno kept his senses alerted incase of anything. He could have avoided the woods in his route, but it was better than walking through villages and making himself known.

Maybe running away wasn’t exactly the most accessible way to avoid the marriage. He could have just made a deal with his parents to call it off, but Jeno was frustrated. And very much disappointed. Neither of the King nor the Queen had told him about such marriage before his supposed bride were to arrive their kingdom. Not even Youngho, nor his trusted educators Doyoung and Jaehyun. It was very clear that they had planned to force him into marriage. And that made him angry, to be honest. Jeno did not want to face any of it.

* * *

Jeno pants but he doesn’t rest. Pebbles and dried leaves crush under his boots and he slaps away stray branches that block his way. There’s no clear path for him, and the night is so deep that it’s only a few hours before the sun shines again, but he trusts himself enough to escape his predicament despite not seeing a thing.

Somehow, the royal guards had traced him fast, and now they’re after him.

His heavy breaths and the harsh thudding of his heart against his ribcage block out the shouts of orders from the knights in a distance. He could also hear the hooves sounding against the ground. Jeno knows that if he doesn’t run any faster now, they’ll catch up to him for sure.   
Jeno squints his eyes, hoping to see better. He ends up seeing nothing so he relies on his other senses.

Somehow, with all the running and burning muscles, the moonlight shines a clearing, and he hears the subtle sound of a flowing creek. His heart jumps, out of exhilaration or relief he didn’t have the time to point out, just that he badly needed to get there. The voices are getting louder too, and so as the sounds of their horses. Jeno forces his legs to run faster.

Jeno’s eyes light up at the faint silhouette of a roof, or that’s what he could make out in the darkness deep in the forest. He figures that if he gets to the clearing, the house (hopefully) would be his temporary hiding place until the guards decide to give up looking for him and disappear. He could only pray that this plan works put, as he still wanted to get away from the palace as much as possible.

So he runs faster, this time not minding the sounds that chase after him. Jeno didn’t bother to count his strides, nor control his breathing, as he dashed through a plethora of bushes and branches and bugs, until he spots it. A single flicker of light, like a torch, in the distance. And it was getting closer.

When he reached the clearing, Jeno’s breath takes a pause despite the need to catch for air. His lungs burned as much as his thighs did, but nothing quite mattered but the view in front of his eyes.

The moon was so big in this part of the forest, so big that it almost looked like a silhouette of a small cottage was etched in its middle. Despite being swallowed in the dark with nothing but a lone torch by the doorway as a source of light, the clearing bloomed in blossoms of flowers like dandelions and daisies and tulips. And they’re only a few of what Jeno could make of. The creek, just as Jeno had predicted, flowed graciously from the other side with its water reflecting the moonlight. The air seems to smell fresher albeit colder. It was as if Jeno wasn’t on a run.

The peace in his chest only bloomed for a mere second before a voice bellows from behind him, “Spread around the area!”

It sounded so much like Youngho that Jeno, out of impulse, jumped and dashed around the cottage, silently hoping for a back door or an open window.

Jeno clutches the wood of the cottage, fully hiding his body from the guards. His eyes survey around the area quickly, then his panic overwhelms him when he hears the harsh rapping of an armored arm on wood. The sound echoes in the cottage, so loud that it must have woken up bugs from a distance away. Jeno cringes, looks around once more. Until his eyes stop on an open window sill.

If only he could hoot then he probably would have.

Hands gripping the window, Jeno hoists himself up, then crosses the window with a thankfully quiet thud. Just as he was hit with warmth, one of the guards was too late to catch him climbing up the cottage. Jeno lets out a breath in a way that it seemed like he held it for the longest time. Which he probably did.

“I told you, Sir,” a tired voice comes through Jeno’s ears, “I have not seen a boy come past my cottage. I swear I was just sleeping until you pounded on my door.”

A resident.

“Well, we best be on our way. I apologize for ruining your night.” Well, that voice was definitely Youngho’s.

Jeno takes that moment to look around and be wary of his surroundings. The house is small and dark, and warm. There’s a faint scent of herbs and others of nature that Jeno can’t quite pinpoint.

“Well, you better be,” the unknown voice says with a grumble followed by a soft shutting sound. Must have shut the front door on Youngho’s face, Jeno thinks, “Why would guards from the palace be out in the night on a run, anyway?” comes another grumble.

Jeno catches sight of a figure holding a lamp, so he clutches the next thing he could hold on to then hides behind it. Only to make a sound as his leg comes in contact with what seemed like a leg of a table, eliciting a low whine from the prince.

A loud gasp is heard and then suddenly, Jeno’s crutched form under the table is caught in a lamp’s light. His eyes widen.

The figure behind the lamp reveals a boy in dark robes, hair ruffled, mouth gaping and skin as white as moonlight. And with eyes that are only filled with nothing but aghast. Much like Jeno’s. The boy’s eyes shake, and his chest huffs as Jeno follows each movement.

He straddles the boy in one jump, and stops the scream that was about to come out of his mouth by cupping it with both of his own. The scream still comes out, though. Just muffled, but no one outside the cottage would hear so Jeno still sighed out of relief. Seems like it was the first sigh of relief that he ever let out the past few hours.

The boy flails his arms, letting out muffled sounds against Jeno’s palms. The prince tries to calm him by shushing him, pressing his palms harder against his mouth, and begging him soft pleas of “ _please, please listen_ ” as if he had any sort of an explanation at the tip of his tongue, which he had but could not say. Jeno could not let strangers from deep in the forest that he was the Prince. Everything but to no avail because the boy doesn’t show any signs of calmness, and even flails his arms around more, causing the lamp to clatter to the wooded floor next to them. Light filled Jeno’s face, and more shock filled the boy’s own.

The screams and flailing stop, then the boy squirms under Jeno until he breaks free from the straddle and backs away from Jeno.

“What…” the boy was clutching his own little chest, “Your Highness!”

Turns out the boy knew Jeno.

Jeno, on his knees with arms mid-air, slumps to the floor with his second sigh of relief. He sees the boy shuffle to his feet clumsily, robes creating shadows because of their only source of light currently. Once the boy stood, Jeno watches in his periphery as he bows graciously towards the prince.

“Please,” Jeno gestures him to be at ease, which the boy instantly did. They remain silent.

Jeno had never been awkward. He always knew how to deal with first meetings and weird circumstances. He always knew how to avoid them and to get out of them. But this time, Jeno felt guilt and uneasiness clawing at his chest. It crawls up to his skin, leaving trails of standing hairs along the way. It made the whole expanse of his neck wild with heat. The prince felt small, and sheepish.

The crickets still sound from outside, the light from the lamp continued to flicker, and the stream continued to flow. The night is coming to an end. Jeno could make out the black sky turning to blue. A couple of hours then it’s dawn. Jeno feels bad for waking up the boy.

Jeno continued to bite his lips and fiddle with his numb fingers, those that poke out of his makeshift hand wraps. He couldn’t help but worry his lip. This person could call back the royal guards and send him away. It was clear that the boy already realized why there were guards barely two hours after midnight. He might tell him off and make him leave, and Jeno would have to go back in the palace for a long lecture from the King and Queen themselves, and probably more from the advisors.

And then the boy speaks up.

“Would you like tea, Your Highness?”

Jeno looks up, sees the boy pick up the clattered lamp and it shines in his face. He had soft features, Jeno thinks. It made him nod his head once, and then he gets up after noticing the boy had been on his feet.

He follows the boy with his eyes as he stood. Jeno watched him trudge to the window he came in to, before he clicks his fingers.

And the lamps attached to the walls flickered with light, letting Jeno see the rest of the room. The prince shuddered, then jumped in his spot at a realization. It was his turn to look at the other boy in shock, and also in amusement maybe.

“You’re a…” he mumbles to himself. The boy must have heard him though, because he lets out a small knowing smile before turning around to work on the counter. Jeno had come in to the cottage’s kitchen, as he soon realized. He watched as the boy muttered things under his breath as he rummaged through a cabinet.

A sudden screeching sound was heard. Jeno looks at the source of the sound and almost shrieked. The boy had pulled out a chair by the table. For him, he presumes, “Please do sit while I prepare.”

Jeno sits with his mind still half fogged.

The boy continued to hum and work in the counter, Jeno settles on watching his back. A stronger scent of herbs hits his nose, then of something sweet. The water makes a bubbling sound as the boy pours a fair amount into a cup. It lets out a small fog and made Jeno excited for the warmth the boy was about to offer to him. Jeno continues to watch the boy’s back and his arms move around the counter for two cups of tea.

It was after a few more clattering that the boy turns around with a tray of tea and made his way to sit just in front of Jeno. With the addition of lighting, the prince could now see the boy clearer. He was young, maybe of Jeno’s age or younger, had big knowing eyes and with raven hair.

“My name is Renjun,” the boy says as he slid a cup across the table for Jeno to take. He used both of his hands to push the cup as a sign of utmost respect to those superior to him. Jeno could not help the cringe, since his guess of the boy being his age was becoming truer, “I hope that it doesn’t bother you, My Prince, but I added a concoction that makes your muscles relax. It seems like you’ve been running for hours.”

And that, he was. Jeno could feel his sore muscles screaming for the warm tea but somewhere at the back of his mind, it tells him not to give in and drink for this concoction might not be what the boy—Renjun—tells him it was.

Renjun must be damn good at reading people because he speaks behind his own cup, both hands clutching its side in respect, “It is harmless, Your Highness. I assure you.” Then he drinks from his cup.

Jeno gives in and drinks the tea with a careful sip.

Once the tea settles in his stomach, he feels his tense muscles start to relax, and the burn slows down to warm feeling. From that moment, Jeno decides that Renjun meant no harm. They drink together in silence. Jeno’s mind wanders to his new realizations that evening.

The guards are spread around the kingdom in search for him. The King and Queen must be worried now, so as Youngho and Doyoung. And maybe Jaehyun as well. Chenle and Jisung might be off village to village looking for him during their free time. He managed to get away from the guards, only to stumble in Renjun’s cottage who was, in Jeno’s tired mind, a very handsome and kind witch.

“You are thinking.” Renjun says. Jeno thinks it’s time for him to respond. And that it’s harmless, what with Renjun’s welcoming grin.

“That, I am,” he croaks out, throat uneasy from misuse.

“Why have you come here, Your Highness—”

“Jeno,” the prince doesn’t know why he allows Renjun to drop the formalities. Probably because they’re pretty much the same age, or maybe because after being away from home for less than twenty-four hours made him miss having friends around, “Please, call me Jeno.”

“What?"

Jeno chuckled softly. He felt the drowsiness clog his mind, must be from the concoction Renjun had added to his tea. Some parts of him tells him it was wrong to make the stranger with a name offer him a drink, much more a good-looking witch. Jeno has heard of stories about them, after all.

“You made me drowsy, witch,” he says as he fights the sleep threatening to close his eyes in deep slumber.  
He heard a distinct chime of bells kind of laugh, and Renjun speaks between giggles, “I meant to make you sleep and rest for the day, Prince—Jeno.”

And with that, Jeno feels his grasp on the cup of tea loosen then it falls to the wood of the tabletop, before his mind is shut from the world of princes meeting witches and cottages and a field of dandelions. His last thought was the realization that he hadn’t answered Renjun’s question.

* * *

Usually, when Jeno wakes up in the morning back at his chambers of the palace, it’s either a maid shakes him awake or the said maid is tinkering around his coffee table making his morning tea. On rather rushed mornings, especially when he has early morning lessons, it was Doyoung who wakes him up with a shove of his curtains open. Or on days the people of the palace got tired of dealing with his not-so pleasant morning habits, Jeno wakes up to the harsh sunlight or to his eyes hurting from too much sleep.

It must be because he was far from the comforts of his four-poster bed that he wakes up differently today.

Jeno blinks away the sleep as he stirs from a dreamless sleep, his face feeling warm and wet. The soft lapping in his cheek becomes more prominent this time, and he giggles to himself as they tickle. He opens his eyes fully, only to squint them back as the sunlight openly shines through the open window of the room. Jeno doesn’t remember how he came to the room by himself, only remembered that he had fallen asleep in the middle of having tea with the witch.

And he had expected to wake up tied in a wood with giant tongues of fire awaiting to devour him. Not with an animal lapping its warm tongue on his cheek.

The animal turns out to be a feline because Jeno feels his nose twitch in itself as he smelled the cat fur tickling his neck—

“Hi,” Jeno greets the cat, voice hoarse from sleep. The cat purrs in return, before it climbs to Jeno’s awaiting arms. Despite his fur allergies, Jeno welcomes the cat and coos at how it snuggled close to his chest. He ignored the itch in his nose. Maybe he could ask Renjun for herbs that could heal runny nose in an instant. With the cat snuggled so close to him as if it knew him and it missed him, Jeno takes the moment to briefly scan the room he was in.

The room smelled a lot of a floral scent, and he noticed the velvety blankets pooled around his waist as he sat up. The window is open, smaller than the window he had climbed through the night before. There’s a messy wooden desk by the corner of the room, where a small cauldron had hot contents judging from the steam dancing on top and a few empty bottles and vials were laid out. It was probably the air freshener, since it seemed like the floral scent came from there. Beside it was an open chest full of belongings. The dark robes draped on top of it haphazardly looked familiar to Jeno. He looked to his right and saw that the other side of the bed was made, but it wasn’t cold. This was probably Renjun’s room. And the only bedroom in the cottage, he concludes.

Jeno rubs the cat behind its ear, then slips on the pair of slippers neatly tucked at the foot of the bed and stands on wobbly feet. Then he realizes that he’s stripped out of his robes and cloak, only wearing his trousers and the shirt. Jeno spares the room one look and after finding his boots under his washed cloak and robes by the chair with his bow and quiver of arrows on top of it all, he continued to rub his thumb against the cat’s fur. The feline purrs in content.

The room had no doors, just separated itself from another room with a curtain with tassels. Jeno peeled it off from view and was greeted by a sharper pierce of sunrays and the familiar look of the kitchen. Only that it was rather different from what it looked during the night.

He walked to the front door and pushed it open. Was the sun always harsher in this part of their kingdom?

Jeno couldn’t even clear the light in his eyes when the cat jumps out of his arms and ran off somewhere in the open fields. The chirping of the birds is louder outside and when Jeno adjusts to the bright, he is greeted by the wide expanse of the flower-filled clearing, with the creek flowing from beside it, and with Renjun in the middle of it all, small form swallowed by the sun.

The boy is reaching out to the sky, head tilted with his eyes closed, as if he was bathing in the rays of the sun. And maybe he was. Renjun was dressed in lighter robes, and his hair looked kept this time. He held a basket of fruits in his other arm, pressed against his weight. Jeno welcomes the odd feeling of relief when he see the boy.

From where he stood, he sees the witch flinch, eyes snapping open and he looks downwards in a surprised manner. Renjun bends down with a curved arm, Jeno sees the golden cat climb up to the arm. As the witch straightens, he met Jeno’s eyes. Jeno decides to walk to Renjun and the latter watched him do so with careful eyes.

“I suppose you slept well,” Renjun says in lieu of a greeting, “It’s a few hours past noon, after all.”

“Oh. Is it?”

“Yes, Jeno,” Renjun smiled in amusement, “Oh! You must be hungry. It isn’t healthy to keep only tea in your stomach, right?”

Renjun rushes past Jeno back inside the cottage. And left him speechless in the middle of dandelions and tulips. They were in different colors. On the other side of the cottage were another set of planted herbs, and vines that curl along the fences and rope lines. Then on another side is where Renjun had grown crops and vegetables. The narrow creek continued to flow, its water even clearer in the day.

Jeno wanted to wander more around the clearing, but decided that it would be polite if Renjun himself showed him around. So he turns in his heel and goes back into the cottage.

When he’s back, Renjun is cluttering in the kitchen counter with delicate and precise movement, just like he did the night before. He moved swiftly, barely rummaging through the cupboards and utensils. Jeno takes the initiative to pull out a chair and sit with his hands on his lap.

Jeno watched Renjun shuffle around with a soft sound of humming from his lips. The plates suddenly slide across the counter, then came two slices of bread that fly before they are tossed into a plate. Jeno’s eyes widen but he doesn’t make a sound. Instead, he watches more when the cat jumps to the counter, just next to where Renjun was probably cutting fruits, and meows. It mewls and makes sounds as if holding a real, coherent conversation, and Renjun blinks back to the cat as if he was offended.

“Hey!” Renjun frowns at the cat. Jeno’s eyebrows raise more as he leans in, more curious than ever, “I fed you the moment you got here today didn’t I? And stop complaining, Lele, you totally deserved that.” Then he presses his forefinger against the cat’s snout. The cat—Lele, Jeno presumes (somehow it sounded familiar)—flicks its tail straight, snout nodding upwards, and turned back to catwalk its way down the counter.

The plates continue to fly, until they didn’t as they land on both of Renjun’s hands. The witch turns with a grin, then slides the plates to Jeno before sitting opposite of the prince. Renjun’s grin doesn’t falter, Jeno basks in it.

On one plate were slices of bread, and on the other were fruits cut into smaller pieces; peaches, and apples, and grapes, and oranges, and bananas. They smelled fresh, and looked juicy. It made Jeno’s mouth water delightedly. He looked up to meet Renjun’s eyes with a quirk of his lips to match the grin on the witch’s face, “Thank you, Renjun.”

With that, Jeno digs in. He didn’t mind the way the witch and his cat looked at him as he did, more people did that back at the palace. People always watched the royals as they ate, especially during times that the King and Queen with their sons and daughters share a one long table with a feast served to them. Halfway through enjoying his meal though, is when Renjun speaks up again.

“I have questions, My Prince—”

“I do remember telling you to call me by my name, right?” Jeno chuckles. Renjun splutters. The cat seemed to snort too, ridiculously.

“Okay—” Renjun visibly relaxes with a gulp, “Jeno. First of all, I apologize that we had to share a bed last night. My cottage only has one room and I didn’t want either of us to go cold. Secondly, I wanted to ask you from last night, why have you come here? Why did you run away?”

Jeno pauses his jaw from chewing the bread, then throws Renjun a look. His memory of last night’s events might be hazy but he surely remembers not telling Renjun that he was running away from the palace. Did the guards who came looking for him a huge giveaway? Did Renjun know something beyond what he should know?

The look must have given Renjun something because he speaks again, proving Jeno wrong of his doubts, “That tea from last night,” Jeno has an inkling of what comes next, “actually had a potion I put in. To put you to sleep and tell the truth while asleep. I had to know your intentions, you understand right?” And of course Jeno does. Suddenly everything is easy to understand with Renjun, this and the questionable cat, so he nods once, “You didn’t really say much though, just that you ran away.”

Jeno didn’t know if he should avoid saying anything and continue the meal instead. He plops another berry in his mouth, then watched the cat that had moved to settle beside his plate. The cat is sitting as it waved its tail cunningly, eyes looking up to Jeno’s with a shimmer. Funny, the cat seemed to want to know the answer as well. Jeno chuckles and rubbed his ears again.

“What is it’s name?” Jeno asks, gesturing to the cat that purred under his palm. The feline was golden in color, which had stripes that stretch from its forehead until to where the tail started.

“Chenle.”

Jeno sputters, then feels the berry in his mouth attack his throat, making him cough once, then twice. He clutched his throat as Renjun bolts up from his seat with a screech of his chair and went to pour the prince a cup of water. The witch immediately rushed to his side, pressing the cup against his lips. The cat mewls and scratches the table so loud as if it was laughing. Jeno would understand if it did. He took big gulps from the cup, held it with his hands covering Renjun’s own, and he recovers from the choke.

“I’m sorry,” Jeno manages to croak as Renjun leans back with a relieved sigh, “his name sounded a lot like a friend back home.”

Renjun walks back to his seat with a low chuckle. The cat beside him lets out what seemed like an offended mewl. Jeno widens his eyes at Chenle the cat before furrowing his eyebrows. If he watches closely, the eyes do seem to be as brown as Chenle’s.

“It’s because it is your friend Chenle, Jeno. Chenle lives in the castle with his parents. With you.”  
Jeno couldn’t help the shriek that he lets out in disbelief, “What?”

Was Chenle always been a cat?

The cat—Chenle, Jeno has to remind himself—raises his paws then lightly scratched on Jeno’s clothed arm. It barely touched his flesh. The prince felt bad about not understanding what it meant, but he held Chenle in his arms and stroked him as if to say, I miss you. And Jeno hopes he understood.

“How is he a cat?” Jeno peers up to Renjun. The witch might have understood the worry behind his frown because he quickly clarifies himself.

“Oh no, don’t worry. I turned him into one!”  
Chenle stopped snuggling against Jeno to send a scratch in the air directed to Renjun, he snarls with fierce eyes.

“What!”

Renjun shakes his head as he stutters when he realized the implication behind his words, hands waving in between them as he spoke with urgency, “Oh, please, that is not what I meant! It’s only for temporary since he was being too loud when he arrived this morning and saw you sleeping so I had to shut him up as to not disturb your sleep! It was the first spell to come out of my mouth! Truly by accident!”

Renjun spoke too fast that when he stopped, Jeno watched his small chest heave for air.

“Okay,” Jeno says in favor of calming the witch instead of making him panic with all the questions, “but how come you two have met? Chenle’s always lived in the castle with me.”

Renjun grins in thought, “One of Lele’s brothers is my teacher for witchcraft!” He chirps. Renjun sounded excited and he looked like he wanted to talk about it more, so Jeno let him, “I am an apprentice by the way, which means I’m still learning. Chenle here brings me meat and poultry every weekend. Usually, he goes with Jisung—his friend, which is probably your friend too but anyway, that’s why he was here early in the morning and saw you in my room—which reminds me, I should turn him back again before the sunset so that he can go. Are you going back with him?”

Yes should be the answer, and that was what Chenle the cat seemed to want to hear, judging from the way he stopped licking his paw to look up at Jeno, eyes pleading. Chenle’s eyes always pled. But he looks back up at Renjun and shakes his head without a scratch of doubt. As if he was dead set on not leaving as early as today, which Jeno never knew to himself until now.

“Maybe it’s best I return tomorrow in the morning,” the words flow out of his mouth so naturally, as if he had been thinking about it all along, which he didn’t. But Jeno thinks that maybe, in this situation, it wasn’t too bad to rely on the words he say out of impulse rather than thoroughly thought. He makes up an excuse, though, “I don’t want to drag Chenle into questioning. People will wonder why he arrived the same time I did. And he could never lie—as if I’d let him lie.”

It felt like an excuse to Jeno’s tongue, worded out of impulse in order to escape panic, but it was also true to his heart.

Renjun could only nod and stood up, wooden plates flying as they follow him to the counter. Renjun, as he stood by it, watched as they drown themselves in the bucket of water he prepared for cleaning. Jeno watched the witch’s back.

“Then,” he turns to the prince, “will you help me turn him back?”

Jeno did help Renjun turn Chenle back to human, although it was more like Jeno watching Renjun mix vials and vials of potions together in his cauldron, crushed some sort of beans and herbs that Jeno had never really known before into the mix, then whispered an incantation to it for atleast six times on loop. He had watched as the liquid turned from black to green, and even saw the distorted reflection of his eye in it as he peeked. Renjun had leaped once with a victorious shout. Jeno laughs at him, the apprentice witch muttered a “ _sorry, it was my first time making that potion_ ” and turned red from embarrassment. During the whole ordeal, Chenle the cat had been jumping up and down by Jeno’s legs, continuously mewling and scratching the air out of utter excitement. Typical Chenle, Jeno had thought.

Renjun had scooped some of the green, glowing liquid into a wooden ladle and had Chenle lap up the contents. Chenle did so, chirpily at that, and then his skin started to stretch and his bones grow until Jeno blinks and Chenle was the same boy again. Only the eyes seem to never change. Jeno’s mother was right, he realized. The eyes are your true identity.

“Renjun is good at potions,” Chenle had said after scolding Jeno about his reckless stunt, and after going off about how the palace went into chaos when his chambers were found empty, “but he really needs more practice with incantations and spells! If he’d been good then I wouldn’t have been a cat for hours! Although, I did love snuggling against you. But one time Jisung turned into a mouse just because he slipped and the chant also slipped past his tongue! Renjun needs more practice and more balance.”

Jeno watched the younger boy ramble about his day as a cat—and of Renjun’s shortcomings and clumsiness as a witch in progress, to which the boy had always grimaced at—while preparing to leave. He had heard about Jeno going back in the morning, but the boy understood and made him promise to return just after the sun rises for the next day. Renjun stood beside him with a grin as Chenle walked to the trail with his empty sack, disappearing as his form was hugged by the treelines of the forest. Both of them don’t stop waving until Chenle wasn’t in sight.

“Renjun! Don’t forget to come to Kun’s tomorrow before noon! You need more knowledge from brother!” were his last words directed at Renjun. Renjun had frowned which only made Jeno giggle more.

It had been quiet after Chenle left, and it’s only been a few minutes. The sun is still high up in the afternoon sky, so Jeno brought himself to lay by the creek and watch the clouds move on their own. Sometimes they cover the sun, but as quickly, they let it shine. Jeno remembers one of his memories with the Queen. She had told him that his life was the whole sky. Sometimes he would rain, other times his shine would be too covered by clouds for the others to see, and other times they would let him shine the brightest. He would have the most beautiful sunrises and the most majestic sunsets. But more importantly; there were a lot to discover up in the sky, beyond the clouds and the sun.

Jeno smiles to himself.

There is a shadow that casts his eyes away from the view of the afternoon sky. Renjun sits beside him, feet bare and shuffling against the green grasses. Jeno worries that baring his feet would cause him splinters, but figured that Renjun might have some witchy way to prevent that. Jeno noticed the book between his palms and the witch began to read.

They enjoy nature together in the quiet just like that, with Jeno watching everything move and Renjun studying more of witchcraft. Sometime into their silence, the sky had bled into an orange hue. Renjun was the first one to stand, he was always the first one to stand, and closed his book. The witch looks down at Jeno, “Come, Jeno. We need to prepare supper.”

But Jeno, as the stubborn prince that he is, grabbed Renjun hand out of impulse—everything Jeno did around Renjun were rather out of his reflex—to stop him from going. Owning up to his actions, Jeno opts to tug the witch’s hand as if to convince him, “The sun will set soon, Renjun. It’s beautiful, you ought to see it.”

Something must have passed Renjun’s eyes because he had paused for a moment, before slowly sitting back down his spot. So careful as if he was not trying to break the connection between his and Jeno’s hands. Jeno smiles, because if he were Renjun he would have done the same as well. From Renjun’s hand alone Jeno could feel his warmth and it coursed through his body.

They watched, hand on top of hand, as the sky colors itself in a darker shade of blues and violets, until they see the sun going down replaced by the moon and the stars. The crickets begin to sound, but it did not overpower the sound of the flowing creek. Jeno shifts, squeezes Renjun’s hand and made him lie on the grass with his other. Renjun, despite petulantly, did and squeezed back. His eyes never left Jeno as they lay on their sides to face each other.

“You haven’t answered my question twice now, young Prince,” Renjun speaks. The torches and lamps back in the cottage flicker with light. The whole clearing bathed in the moonlight, “Why did you run away?”

Jeno had spent no longer than a few hours of an afternoon and an even fewer hours of night with Renjun, but he decides that it was so easy to become honest with the boy. It was so easy to turn off the filter that is in his mouth to clean his words. It became so easy for the prince to speak and act out of his thoughts. And so, helplessly, he succumbs to his weakness that is the witch.

“They were going to force me to marry.”  
Renjun’s eyes widen in concern as he gasps, and scoots only closer to the prince. To seek for warmth or to ask for more of his story, Jeno doesn’t know. Only that he had to continue. So continue, he did.

“The bride was from one of the Northern kingdoms. I could not remember where exactly, nor what their name was. Only that it was one of the King’s, my father’s good friends enough to be allies. They had been weak for military support and my father, the King, knew that giving away our armies would meant less for our own kingdom. So he did what he thought was best; build a partnership. The Queen, my mother…I know she had been lenient, but I took one look at her and she seemed to be as determined as my father was about the entire situation,” Jeno sighs and closed his eyes. The image of his mother and father’s eyes looking right back at him across that long dining table made his chest constrict, “I couldn’t stand it. So last night I just climbed off my window with my bow and arrow and into somewhere my feet would take me. Which was to your cottage.” The end had been followed by a string of laughter from the both of them, remembering their first encounter from last night.

“Did you,” Renjun starts to voice out his wonder, “at least met with the supposed future spouse?”

“I didn’t,” Jeno realized that he didn’t want to talk about who his unknown bride was supposed to be, so he swerves to a different conversation, “We are of the same age aren’t we, Renjun? Both born in the year of the Dragon in the West Country calendar?”

“We are, Jeno.”

“Then it is easy to tell that we are friends.”

Renjun giggles, which made the prince giggle as well. Jeno wraps an arm around the witch’s shoulder and pulled him closer. Their breaths even out together in a soft lull that it made Jeno close his eyes as their foreheads come together.

* * *

Jeno wakes up to the same bed, but this time, Renjun was shaking him awake. This time he hadn’t been facing the window. This time the sun was barely rising rather than harshly shining upon him.

When he opens his eyes awake, he was greeted by Renjun’s warm smile from above. Jeno had to make sure he wasn’t still sleeping and dreaming or hallucinating. So he took his time to blink off the haziness, and to rub his eyes. Held Renjun’s hand for good measure.

“Jeno,” Renjun leads him to sit up. Jeno wakes fully. The witch kneeled on the mattress beside him, on top of his already-neat side of the bed, “Get up and wash yourself in the creek while I prepare you a meal.”

With Jeno’s nod, Renjun jumps off the bed and disappears behind the curtain of his room. The room had looked the same from when he woke up yesterday, except now that the sun was not that bright yet. Jeno slips on his slippers and fixes the bed. He does his best that his side would look like Renjun’s—blankets folded and pillows fluffed neatly. Before he exits the room, he looks out the window and spots the fields of flowers. Jeno turns and makes his way out.

Renjun is humming a song in the kitchen, Jeno heard him before he saw him.

“What song is that?” Jeno asks.  
Renjun shrieked and turned to him with a hand on his chest.

Jeno flashed him an apologetic look. Sometimes Renjun can be really clumsy and easy to scare, Jeno learns.

Despite that, Renjun breathes, “Honestly? I don’t know either. It was one of the songs my teacher, Kun, wrote.” It’s nice, Jeno thinks, “Are you going to bathe in the creek?”

“Yes, I am,” Jeno nods. He was about to turn and walk out the front door when his brain whizzed an idea, “Renjun? You could come out and eat with me by the creek after I bath.”

Renjun smiles, “I was planning to do so.”

Jeno returns the grin and walked away. The extra skip in his steps go unnoticed by the both of them.

When Jeno gets to creek, he carefully strips himself bare and dips into the water. The creek was flowing as if it was alive, but it’s current wasn’t too much to drive him away. The coldness of it prickles every inch of his skin, which perfectly matched the warm air in the clearing. He felt his tensed muscles relax as he succumbs to it. Jeno feels the water flow past the gaps of his fingers, and began to wash his face. And with that, he starts to rub the cool water against the dirt in his body.

After a while, when the deed is almost done, Jeno crouched and submerged himself into the water. He held his breath, the sounds of the land quickly replaced by the current as he went under the water. He drowns himself, and he drowns his thoughts. Especially the one that tells him not to go back to the palace, at least not today. Or maybe not in a long while.

Jeno straightens in full height out of the water and gasped for a large intake of air.

“Oh!”

Jeno turns. Renjun held a wooden tray of breakfast with both his hands. The witch didn’t meet his eyes as he turned to his heels abruptly out of slight panic, his back now facing Jeno, “I’m sorry! I thought you were done!”

Jeno laughs, heartily. Once a royal turns into an adult, a high priest blesses them and their body is not to be seen by anyone else but their future spouse. Jeno knew that Renjun was worried about breaking this tradition, hence this reaction, since Jeno himself had gone through the same ritual, but the prince could not care less. His body was not of a god’s to deserve that much treatment. And besides, Renjun saw nothing but his exposed back.

But Jeno humors him anyway, and lets Renjun turn away from him until he was dressed, “I was done,” he says with one last chuckle, “just let me get dressed then.”

Jeno retrieves his clothes then dresses himself. When he’s done, he walks to Renjun, takes the tray out of the witch’s arms, and plopped down on the grass to eat. Renjun snaps out of his gaze and joins the prince with a light laugh. Jeno can’t help but smile.

They spend breakfast by the creek, sharing fruits and bread, and stories of their lives. Renjun tells Jeno about his journeys as a witch apprentice, and Jeno tells him about his life in the palace. Once their meal is finished, the sun rises behind them.

Now, with the sun in full bloom, Jeno and Renjun walks in the trail between the fields of flowers hand in hand on their way back to the cottage to retrieve Jeno’s things. Jeno would point at one kind, and Renjun would tell its name, and to what kind of concoction it made. Jeno intentionally takes their time walking step by step slowly, his mind still berating if he should go today or just tomorrow. Or the day after, or another day _after_ after.

Jeno stops in his tracks when a peculiar flower catches the corner of his eye. He bends down to it, tugging Renjun with him. He points at the flower, then looks over Renjun with a questioning gaze.

Renjun laughs, then held the prince’s hand to put it down from pointing, “That’s the Hoya flower. A rare one. Kun had gifted me those a long time ago. They are really easy to take care of and they help me make potions to heal internal wounds. Although sometimes I like to boil them and use their oil as air fresheners. Oh! They smell best when mixed with a few herbs like mint and lavender leaves!”

Jeno stares at it more. The flowers were in full bloom. It had white petals and in the middle of it, was another flower blooming in pink.

“We should hurry Jeno,” Renjun tugs him to stand, “you do not want to be late and get Chenle to nag at you.”  
Jeno laughs, despite the subtle clawing at his chest, but lets himself get dragged by Renjun as the latter practically ran back to the cottage. And he laughs even more when the witch almost trips in his own feet, if not for his hand that Jeno held. Renjun had grimaced and threatened to hex him. 

Once inside, Renjun pulls him to his room and parts the tasseled curtains as they step inside. The witch was quick to pull him inside, then grabbed Jeno’s robe and spreads it out, “I’ve washed them on your first day, while you were asleep,” Jeno stares at him, he stared at the boy as he walks around Jeno and gestured the prince to raise his arms. Jeno, his head twisting to look at Renjun, complies anyway. Renjun slips on the sleeves and wraps the ties around the prince’s torso. The robes smell like fresh summer wind, just like how Renjun smells in front of him.

“And I’ve also sharpened your arrows for extra precautions as you travel,” Renjun starts to wrap Jeno’s hands with his hand wraps, fingers fast and delicate as they work. Jeno only trails his eyes over them.

“You seemed to have prepared everything for my leave,” Jeno chuckles lightly. He was silently hoping that the bitterness in his heart wasn’t clear in his voice as he spoke. He was truly leaving, wasn’t he?

“Of course,” Renjun says with his eyes still focused on the hand wraps, “we only want the best for the Prince’s travels, right?”

They both lightheartedly laugh.

When Jeno was young, he never really paid attention to intricate details of whatever he did. Everything was fine as long as he stuck to what he should be doing. Everything was fine as long as he did his duties right with his utmost best. Disobeying his parents’ will of marriage didn’t seem like disobedience to him anymore, and that was meant to make him miserable. But instead, he feels like everything is fine. He feels like running and hiding was the right thing to do, something worth it to do. But technically, no matter how much Jeno pushed it at the very back of his mind, he had to go back.

“They will consider your heart’s desires,” Renjun says as he tightens up the cloth around the prince’s right hand.

“I wish they wouldn’t force me to marry,” Jeno says. Renjun halts his arm that grabbed his cloak.

“I do too.” Then Renjun wraps the cloak around the expanse of Jeno’s wide shoulders.

When he makes sure that his boots are tightly strapped to his legs and that his bow and quiver of arrows are back on his back, Jeno follows Renjun outside the room. They lingered on the small porch of the cottage. Jeno steps out and faces Renjun, links their hands between them out of a habit he had easily fallen into.

“I could never thank you enough,” the prince says with a soft smile directed at Renjun. The other boy returns it with a squeeze on his hand.

Jeno watched as Renjun closes his eyes, eyelashes fluttering against his prominent cheekbones. The witch leans in, and tilts his head to press his cold, chapped lips against Jeno’s jaw. Jeno lets his own eyelids fall, basking in the warmth. Now that he has known everything he had been feeling around this boy, now that he has put a name on it, Jeno welcomes it.

Renjun doesn’t part right away, instead he noses on Jeno’s cheek like a kitten seeking for warmth. And when he does, Jeno is greeted with the same smile he ever wore, “You can come back and visit. Only twice a week though, since most of my days are spent studying and practicing with Kun but—I can definitely make time for your visits.”

Jeno leans in to whisper, “Only if you won’t put any kind of potion in my drinks ever again.”  
Renjun laughs so hard that his knees bend as he doubles over, “Yes! Never again, then. Although it would have been fun doing so…”

Jeno playfully scrunches his nose in feigned dismay.

Renjun was the first to let go of their hands as he pushed Jeno away, signaling him to go. Jeno takes a few steps back, before turning away. Now, he’s walking on the trail in the middle of the field of flowers with a grin.

Jeno realized, that he’s ready to go back, that he has every reason to present the whole kingdom as to why he will refuse the marriage, and that he was definitely coming back to the clearing.

**Author's Note:**

> i rlly enjoyed writing this one ㅠㅠ
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/reonjeolmis)
> 
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